Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Riley went bogey free on Friday at the Charles Schwab Challenge to lead by two shots as he eyes his first solo PGA Tour win.
Davis Riley fired off a bogey-free 6-under 64 at Colonial Country Club to lead the Charles Schwab Challenge field by two heading into the weekend. He sits at 10-under in the tournament.
Hayden Buckley and Pierceson Coody trail Riley at 8-under as they both signed for 5-under 65s.
Riley started his day on the back nine. His hot streak begins on the 15th. From there, he made five birdies through the next six holes.
“The key to this place is putting the ball in the fairway because there are some — it’s long, but if you’re hitting the fairways, there’s a little bit of run out, so you have some scoring clubs in your hands,” Riley said. “If you’re able to execute the shots from the fairways, you’re going to have some decent looks.”
The former Alabama golfer leads the field in strokes gained total, picking up 11.6 on the field. He is also No. 3 in strokes gained approach to the green, adding 5.2 shots in that area.
Colonial Country Club has completely renovated the entire golf course since last year’s event. Riley felt like there were two main changes.
“Certainly, on the greens, it’s a lot different. There was a big learning curve on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Riley said. “The par-3s look different. I would say getting used to the firmness of the greens and different contours on the greens. I spent a lot of time Tuesday and Wednesday on the greens. Tee to green is fairly similar with the exception of the par-3s.”
Riley and many of the afternoon groups had to sit through a weather delay that lasted over an hour. However, he did not let that bother him. Once the guys returned to the course, Riley made his 3-footer to keep his scorecard clean.
“Told myself I didn’t want to look at any scoreboard on the back nine. I wanted to get into the process and try to execute the shot at hand,” Riley said. “I did a good job of that. I didn’t know where I stood until the rain delay here. It was nice and just had a 3-footer coming back out and was able to execute it.”
He has come close in previous tournaments but only got over the hump with Nick Hardy at last year’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Thirty-six holes stand between Riley and his first solo PGA Tour win. He will play alongside Buckley on Saturday.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
